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A lot of round 830,000 salmon fry launched into Northern California’s Klamath River are believed to have died after struggling fuel bubble illness, state wildlife officers stated Monday.
The situation is brought on by a extreme change in stress. It occurred because the fish went by way of the Iron Gate Dam tunnel, the California Division of Fish and Wildlife stated.
That tunnel and the dam of the identical title will probably be eliminated later this yr.
The round 830,000 Chinook salmon fry have been the primary launch from the Fall Creek Fish Hatchery, which was a $35 million undertaking designed to assist salmon populations within the Klamath River as soon as it’s absolutely undammed, the division, referred to as the CDFW, said in a statement.
The fish have been launched on Feb. 26.
How most of the round 830,000 fry died was not clear, a spokesperson for the division stated, nevertheless it’s being known as a “excessive mortality price.”
There’s no indication of water high quality issues within the river, which is sort of 270 miles lengthy and travels from Oregon and thru Northern California, and there are different wholesome yearling coho and Chinook salmon that got here from downstream from the dam, the CDFW stated.
To any extent further till that dam and tunnel is eliminated, some other launched will probably be accomplished downstream of it, the division stated.
The Klamath River was as soon as the third largest salmon-producing river on the West Coast, and dams contributed to the decline since then, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The deaths of the fish are “yet one more unhappy reminder of how the Klamath River dams have harmed salmon runs for generations,” the CDFW stated.
